What’s Happening at Cheshire Library in December

/ cheshirelib / Leave a comment

The countdown to the Holidays has begun – take a break from the frenzy with some of our December programs!

Library After Hours – Holiday Edition

Friday Dec 1, 2017, 5:00  –  7:30 PM

Library After Hours is back by popular demand! Join us for a family-friendly holiday movie (“The Polar Express”) and some seasonal activities for children and parents/caregivers.  Pizza, snacks and drinks will be available for sale from the Friends of the Library.  There is no admission fee, but there is a suggested donation of $5 per family to help offset costs.  Please note that the Lower Level of the Library will not be open to the public.  Please register so we know how many goodies to have on hand.  Kids are welcome to wear pajamas! Movie begins at 5:30 p.m.

Coast Guard Saxophone Quartet

Sunday Dec 3, 2017, 2:00 PM
The United States Coast Guard Saxophone Quartet is comprised of the saxophone section of the U.S. Coast Guard Band. In addition to performing throughout Taiwan in 2009 and 2010, the Quartet performs regularly at conferences held by the World Saxophone Congress and the North American Saxophone Alliance, and has performed at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic and at Carnegie Hall. This concert is free to the public, no registration required.

Library Lab (Grades K-6)

Tuesdays, Dec 5 & 12, 2017 4:00 – 4:50 PM

Kids come together to discover the wonders of science through hands-on activities and takeaways.  Science is fun, but it can be messy. Registration required starting November 15 for Cheshire residents and December 1 for all others.  This program meets 2 times, December 5 and 12.  You only need to register once to attend all sessions.

After School Zumba

Wednesday Dec 6, 2017, 4:00 PM

Zumba® is an easy-to-follow, Latin-inspired dance-fitness program. Classes specifically for kids are formatted in a way to make getting fit fun. Kids can just let loose and be themselves. It’s referred to as the exercise in disguise. It’s an hour filled with energy and routines created to the latest music. For kids of all ages,  parents and/or caregivers are welcome to participate with their children. No registration required.

Pearl Harbor: Into the Arizona Documentary

Thursday Dec 7, 2017, 6:00 – 7:30 PM

Join us for this fascinating documentary Pearl Harbor: Into the Arizona. The USS Arizona has been resting on Pearl Harbor’s ocean floor for the past 76 years. For the first time since it was destroyed in 1941, scientists have the technology to take an in-depth look inside the ship. The discoveries made inside the ship are a stark reminder of all those who paid the ultimate price for their country. The expedition retells personal stories of survivors who lived through Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. It also brings a survivor who was aboard the Arizona back to see the ship for what might be one last time. No registration required.

Create Holiday Cards with Rubber Stamps

Wednesday Dec 13, 2017, 6:00 – 8:00 PM

One of the many joys of the Holiday season is sending cheerful cards to the ones you love.  Join Sue Bernier and create beautiful Holiday cards. You will use rubber stamps, ink and Stampin’ Up products to create your cards.  All levels are invited to join.  Registration is required.

BYOC : Bring Your Own Crafts!

 Thursday Dec 14, 2017, 6:00  – 8:00 PM 
Coloring, stitching, drawing, stamping, scrapbooking, if it’s crafty, bring it in!  We will meet most every first Thursday of the month. There will be plenty of room to spread out for your crafts.  Some supplies will be provided for this adult program. Registration is required.

Relaxing Coloring Night for Adults

Thursday Dec 28, 2017, 6:00 – 8:00 PM 

Join us for relaxing coloring night for adults and de-stress from this busy time of year.  We’ll provide coloring pages and supplies, but feel free to bring your own pages, art supplies.  Registration is required.

New Year’s Party

Friday Dec 29, 2017, 11:00 AM  –  12:00 PM

It’s a Noon-Year’s Eve party!! Get ready for 2018 with fun family activities! For children of all ages and their families. Registration required. Registration begins December 15 for Cheshire residents and December 28 for non-residents.

Cheshire Anime Club Holiday Special 

Friday Dec 29, 2017, 3:00 – 4:30 PM 

Konnichiwa, minna-san! Can’t get enough Anime and Manga? Join us for a special holiday edition of Anime Club where we will watch holiday and New Year’s themed anime! Japanese snacks (like Ramune and Pocky) will be available for refreshments. Grades 7 -12, no registration required.

 

 

10 Books for Kids Obsessed with “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”

/ Louise / Leave a comment

They’re the books that got many reluctant readers turning pages, but what to do once they’ve finished them all? It’s a question I hear often when I work in the Children’s Room. Parents want to keep the interest going, and are keen to know which other books  will appeal to their DOAWK fans.

A couple of the attractions of this series for reluctant readers is that there are pictures, which provides a text break and makes reading feel more manageable, and humor, which makes them fun rather than work. Here are 10 suggestions for books that hit those sweet spots with middle grade readers.

 

Timmy Failure series by Stephan Pastis. Meet Timmy Failure, the founder, president, and CEO of the best detective agency in town, probably the nation. And his lazy sidekick, Total, a 1,500-pound polar bear.

Alvin Ho series by Lenore Look. Frightened by everything out in the world and completely quiet at school, Asian-American second-grader Alvin Ho becomes a force to be reckoned with at home when he transforms himself into the loud, talented, and fearless Firecracker Man!

How to Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the quiet and thoughtful son of the Chief of the Hairy Hooligans, tries to pass the important initiation test of his Viking clan by catching and training a dragon.

Origami Yoda series by Tom Angleberger. Tommy and his friends interact with a paper finger puppet of Yoda, worn by their weird classmate Dwight, to try and figure out whether or not the puppet can really predict the future.

Tom Gates series by Liz Pinchon. Irritating his teachers with his lack of focus and creative excuses, Tom Gates spends his time drawing pictures and writing down observations about everything from his grumpy sister and annoying classmate to an unsatisfying camping trip.

 

The Odd Squad series by Michael Fry. When his school counselor insists that he needs better socialization skills after being stuffed into a locker by a bully, middle-schooler Nick finds himself, along with two other misfits, joining the school’s lamest club: Safety Patrol.

Clueless McGee series by Jeff Mack. Clueless McGee is just your average fifth-grader: snarky, awkward, and a magnet for trouble. The only difference: he’s also an amateur detective. Determined to make his absent father proud, he uses the skills he’s learned playing video games to solve mysteries.

The Terrible Two books by Mac Barnett and Jory John. Disgusted when he has to move from the oceanside community where he was infamous for his tricks to a sleepy, cow-filled town that already has a notable prankster, Miles plots mischief that culminates in a daring partnership.

Dear Dumb Diary series by Jim Benton. Take a peek inside the diaries of middle schoolerJamie Kelly – she’s cool (sometimes), nice (mostly), and funny (always). She’s the nerd, the cute girl, the jealous girl, and the brainiac all wrapped up in one.

The Dork Diaries series by Rachel Renée Russell. Through journal entries, sketches, and drawings, the complicated life of eighth grader Nikki Maxwell is presented –  her relationship with her mother, secret crushes, dealings with her biggest rival at school, passion in pursuing art as a career, and overall views on the world in which she lives.

The New Riverdale & the Old Archie Comics

/ Mary / Leave a comment

Whenever anyone asked me which fantasy world I’d like to live in, I always replied, “Riverdale.”

Of course, I was speaking of the traditional Riverdale of the comic books of my childhood. However, a new Riverdale has appeared, and it’s not the same old place.

 Riverdale debuted this past January on the CW and Netflix, and the second season begins in October. Set in a modern-day Riverdale, Archie and his friends find themselves involved in a  murder. Jason Blossom (brother of the infamous Cheryl Blossom, a well known figure in the Archie universe) is dead and Archie and his friends are in the middle of the mystery.

These are not traditional Archie characters.  (IMDb describes it as “a subversive take on Archie and his friends, exploring small town life, the darkness and weirdness bubbling beneath Riverdale’s wholesome facade.”) Veronica is the new girl in town and her father is in jail for embezzlement. Betty’s mother is a hyper-controlling perfectionist,  and Jughead is Archie’s ex-best friend and the son of the leader of a motorcycle gang!

There are many other changes in this most recent Archie re-boot. If you watch in the expectation of seeing familiar characters in familiar situations, you’ll be in for a few (all right, many) surprises. This is a new story line that may take it’s origin from Archie Comics but then remolds the characters and spins them in an entirely different direction.

I have to admit that I am an Archie purist. I have followed the many Archie remakes. I remember the old cartoon on television and the attempts at live action shows. I also eagerly read the Archie Get Married series. Most of these left me longing for the traditional Archie of the comic books I grew up with.

 

And speaking of comic books, you can also download the newest comic book version of Archie’s story from hoopla. This new series is written by Mark Waid and illustrated by Fiona Staples and it re-imagines Archie and his friends in a very modern, edgier way.

The Sleeper and the Spindle

/ Kaitlin / Leave a comment

The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman is a unique twist on the Sleeping Beauty story.  Sleeping Beauty and the people in her castle have been asleep for years. However, this sleeping sickness seems to be spreading. First, the nearby villages fall asleep, then the villages near them, and so on. Soon, the entire kingdom is asleep, and it’s up to three dwarfs and the queen of the neighboring kingdom to figure out how to put an end to the curse.

This story has an ingenious blend of fairy tales. For instance, the queen is a character from another story. I’ll just say that she is someone who has also been asleep for a long time and let you figure out who she is. There are also additional elements to the story that help flesh it out. Those who are asleep do more than sleep, an old woman who is trapped inside the castle and immune to the curse, and the more one delves into the story, the more it becomes apparent that the details of the Sleeping Beauty that appear in each retelling are not what they seem. Not to mention that the ending will leave you thinking, “Wait, what? What just happened?” Overall, this is a quick read that goes more in-depth than one would think the amount of pages would allow.

Genre: Fantasy

Setting: A fairy tale land in an unspecified historical era.

Number of pages: 66

Objectionable content? A small amount of violence, one death, an occasional corpse, and unsettling factors (i.e. the sleepers)

Can children read this? Yes, as long as they are not easily upset by unsettling elements in stories. However, this book is best for teenagers and adults.

Who would enjoy this? Anyone who enjoys Neil Gaiman’s other works, and anyone who enjoys fairy tale remakes.

Themes: Beauty, power, loss, choices, strong women, and the need to control other’s emotions vs. the strength of only feeling your emotions.

Rating: Five stars

Turtles All the Way Down

/ Louise / Leave a comment

It’s been almost six years since YA uber-author John Green has published a new book (something we wrote about a while back). That’s almost  generation’s worth of his target audience – many teen readers will have been too young for his last book, The Fault in Our Stars, when it was published in 2012. The rocket-like success of that book (and subsequent movie) was both a blessing and a curse for Green: his books were being read by millions more people, but that success resulted in a period of crippling anxiety for the author. The expectations for his next book felt so overwhelming, that for a while he could not write at all.

Green has not made a secret of the fact that he’s wrestled with Anxiety and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder most of his life, and what it’s like to live with mental illness is the overriding theme of Turtles All the Way Down. Aza Holmes, the narrator of the book, struggles mightily to control the obsessive thoughts that often consume her, which she calls “thought spirals” that grow more and more tightly coiled until she is driven to a compulsive behavior to quiet them.

The ostensible plot of the book is a mystery: the famous father of a childhood acquaintance has has skipped town to avoid legal troubles, and Aza’s BFF Daisy is convinced the two of them can figure out where he is and collect the $100,000 reward.  TATWD has all the John Green-isms we’ve come to expect: the quirky best friend, the seemingly impossible task, the sweet love story, and everyone’s got a poem or literature quote ready to go at a moment’s notice, (John Green characters are a bit more well-read and well-spoken than the general teen-aged public). But the real journey the reader is taken on is what it’s like to live in a hijacked mind.

Aza has a dread of germs. One of the first compulsions we witness is Aza forcing open a wound on her fingertip, so that she can clean and sanitize it before covering it up with one of her constant supply of band-aids, a ritual she performs so often that the wound never completely heals. Hand sanitizer is used combatively –  at one point she even starts drinking it.  Aza’s helplessness in the face of these thoughts and compulsions can be painful to read, and there’s no “all better now” resolution at the end – the prevailing takeaway is it’s ok not to be ok sometimes. Green has managed to paint a picture of mental illness that is more matter-of-fact than sensational, and the writing is evocative and mature. It’s a thoughtful novel that will appeal to adults as well as teens, and well worth the six-year wait.

Five stars.